The Smelly Kipper
by TheStationmaster
Summary: James is asked to pull the Flying Kipper, despite his dislike of smelly fish.
**Another Thomas rewrite, this time it's "The Smelly Kipper" from Season 17. Enjoy and comment.**

One evening, James was telling scary stories at Tidmouth Sheds to all the other engines.

All the engines don't think James's stories are that scary, except for Percy. He thinks that the stories that James tells are the scariest of all.

That evening, James decided to tell the story of the ghost train. This made Percy very cross.

"Stop telling these stories!" snapped Thomas. "You know Percy doesn't like them!"

"Rubbish!" replied James. "Percy is a scaredy little engine!"

Just then, Sir Topham Hatt arrived.

"Tonight, I want James to pull the Flying Kipper." he said.

The other engines were surprised, including Henry, who usually pulled the Kipper.

"No worries sir! I'll do it!" tooted James.

And James puffed away at once.

"He won't last one second pulling the Kipper!" grunted Gordon. "James hates fish, and the Kipper is full of fish!"

"Let's just wait and see." said Thomas. "Maybe James will overcome his fear of fish."

James arrived at Brendam Docks to collect the Flying Kipper.

But James soon realized something as he was coupled up to the Kipper.

"The Kipper is full of _fish?_ "

"Yes indeed." said his driver. "Lots and lots of it."  
"Fresh fish in fact." added in the fireman,

Porter came over to see James.  
"I see you're pulling the Kipper tonight." he said.

James gulped.

"I'm not pulling the Kipper actually. Henry is doing it."

So James puffed back to Tidmouth Sheds.

When he arrived back at Tidmouth Sheds, the engines laughed.

"I knew you couldn't do it!" laughed Gordon. "Sir Topham Hatt is going to be furious and lock you in your sheds for a long time!"

"But Sir Topham Hatt told you to pull the Kipper!" said Henry.  
"You must've been dreaming!" replied James.

Henry puffed away at once.

James was feeling very pleased with himself.

But what James didn't know was that he had caused Henry and the Kipper to be late. In fact, some of the fish arrived _very_ late to the stations. This caused confusion and delay.

The next morning, Sir Topham Hatt arrived, crosser than ever.

"There has been multiple complaints about the Kipper last night!" he boomed. "People were complaining that the fish arrived very late!"

Sir Topham Hatt turned crossly to James.

"James, you have caused confusion and delay! What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I didn't pull the Kipper." laughed James.

Now Sir Topham Hatt was beyond, and I really mean **BEYOND** furious.

"Why didn't you pull it?"  
"Because the fish was smelly and I didn't want to ruin my shiny red paint! I told Henry to pull it instead."

"Smelly?! That is nonsense! Of course the fish is smelly!"

"And I didn't want my passengers to be cross at me for being smelly!" added in James.

"I don't want to hear anymore nonsense! As a punishment, you are staying in your sheds today. And then tonight, you will pull the Kipper! If there is any confusion and delay, there will be severe punishments for you!"

James didn't like this at all.

"Yes sir." He groaned.

That night, James arrived at Brendam Docks to collect the Kipper.

He didn't like it one bit at all!

James didn't want Sir Topham Hatt to punish him further, so he decided to be careful.

But the foolish freight cars were up to no good.

"James is afraid of smelly fish, James is afraid of smelly fish!" they laughed.

"Stop saying that!" snapped James. "I'm not scared of smelly fish at all!"

The foolish freight cars kept singing.

But then, it happened. The foolish freight cars distracted James so much, that James didn't watch where he was going, and crashed right into a fish crate!

The fish flew through the air, and landed right on James!  
Nobody was hurt, but James was embarrassed.

Everyone laughed and laughed.

Although James was smelly, he managed to pull the Flying Kipper at record speed.

The next morning, the other engines laughed at James for being smelly.

"James is a smelly engine!" laughed the others.

But then, Sir Topham Hatt arrived in his car.

James was worried that Sir Topham Hatt would be cross at him, but in fact, he was very pleased.

"Well done James! Even though you had a little accident with the fish, you managed to get the fish delivered on time! You are a really useful engine! As a reward, you are getting a nice washdown!

James was happy, but he wished he didn't have to pull the Kipper ever again


End file.
